Musk and Trump used to shill crypto scam after Indian influencer’s YouTube hack
Cryptocurrency scammers took management of Indian YouTuber and influencer Ranveer Allahbadia’s channels to advertise a fraud that promised as much as 200% returns on crypto investments.
On Sept. 25, Allahbadia, an Indian content material creator, entrepreneur, and social media influencer, turned the most recent sufferer of crypto scammers after hackers hijacked and rebranded a number of of his YouTube channels to livestream an AI-altered video of Elon Musk urging viewers to spend money on a ‘double your crypto’ rip-off.
His first channel, BeerBiceps, boasts over 7.8 million subscribers, alongside along with his private channel, Ranveer Allahbadia, with greater than 9.4 million followers, and a 3rd channel that includes podcast clips with an viewers of 1.2 million, had been all hacked and rebranded to imitate Tesla, Elon Musk’s famend automotive and clear power firm.
The hackers changed the channels’ logos and handles and deleted all earlier content material to look as official Tesla platforms, aiming to deceive viewers with faux cryptocurrency giveaways and fraudulent reside streams that includes Musk’s likeness.
Previously, crypto scammers have lengthy impersonated Musk and his firms, like SpaceX, to defraud unsuspecting crypto fans.
On this occasion, nonetheless, the thumbnail additionally featured United States Vice President Kamala Harris and Former President Donald Trump, alongside Musk, probably in a bid to money in on the hype across the 2024 elections, the place cryptocurrencies have become a major topic.
At press time, the movies had been taken down however reports from a number of viewers on X present that one of many streams had over 149,000 tuned in at one level.
Like earlier cases, the reside streams featured a QR code which, when scanned, redirects customers to a faux web site branded as Tesla, that includes a $100 million giveaway.
Customers had been additionally greeted with an automatic chatbot that described the doubtful giveaway as an official occasion backed by Musk and Trump to “popularize cryptocurrency.”
The positioning featured pockets addresses for Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and Dogecoin (DOGE) and promised to return double the quantity of the respective cryptocurrency despatched to those wallets. To make issues appear professional, a faux transaction historical past was additionally featured, and it was robotically up to date to make it appear to be individuals had been really transferring their funds.
The same web site was promoted through fake channels throughout Apple’s “Glowtime” occasion on Sept. 9. Unhealthy actors used these fraudulent channels to imitate the official occasion, impersonating Apple and CEO Tim Prepare dinner.
At press time, the variety of individuals affected by the rip-off stays unclear. Nonetheless, the assault is especially regarding as a result of prominence of Allahbadia’s channels and the rising reputation of cryptocurrencies in India.
As of now, Allahbadia has not but made an official assertion relating to the incident.
The incident marked the second assault on a outstanding Indian YouTube channel, coming lower than per week after the Supreme Court docket of India’s official YouTube channel was used to advertise phishing links and a rip-off that includes Ripple’s execs and the XRP token.
